By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
FORMER Philippine President Rodrigo R. Duterte said he takes full responsibility for his government’s war on drugs, as he braces for a legal battle at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, where he will be tried for crimes against humanity.
“Whatever happened in the past, I will be the front of our law enforcement and the military,” he said in a video message posted on his Facebook account. “I said this already, that I will protect you, and I will be responsible for everything.”
His remarks were his first since being put on a plane to the Netherlands.
Mr. Duterte was taken into custody by the ICC on Wednesday after his arrest in Manila on murder charges linked to his anti-illegal drug war, in which thousands of suspected drug pushers and users were killed.
The video, which has been viewed 10 million times, showed only the firebrand leader in a plain white T-shirt speaking. It appeared to have been recorded inside the plane, with the faint hum of the engine audible in the background.
In a statement, the ICC said Mr. Duterte had been “surrendered to the custody of the International Criminal Court.” “He was arrested by the authorities of the Republic of the Philippines… for charges of murder as a crime against humanity.”
He will be brought before an ICC judge in The Hague in the coming days for an initial appearance, according to the statement. He was transferred to a detention unit on the Dutch coast.
“This will be a long legal proceeding, but I say to you, I will continue to serve my country,” Mr. Duterte said, while assuring his supporters that he was well. “And so be it, if that is my destiny.”
“I am OK, do not worry,” the 79-year old former President said in the more than two-minute video clip.
Mr. Duterte, who led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, will face allegations of crimes against humanity for overseeing death squads in his anti-illegal drug crackdown. He could become the first former Asian head of state to go on trial at the ICC.
The ICC arrest warrant says that as President, Mr. Duterte created, funded and armed the death squads that carried out murders of drug dealers and users.
During his six years in office, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations, by the police’s count. Human rights groups say the death could be as many as 30,000.
Mr. Duterte’s daughter, Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, arrived in The Hague on Wednesday evening, her office said.
Lawyers and academics said the arrest and transfer were a big moment for the ICC, which is targeted by US sanctions and does not have any police of its own to arrest people.
A State Department spokesperson said the US was aware of Philippine authorities’ arrest of Mr. Duterte.
The Philippine Embassy in the Netherlands said it had provided consular assistance to Mr. Duterte upon his arrival. It added that it had given former Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea a 15-day visa because he would serve as Mr. Duterte’s lawyer.
Mr. Medialdea was also allowed to visit the former President at the ICC’s detention center in Scheveningen.
The embassy also notified officials from the ICC and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Mr. Duterte’s medical condition and requirements.
WIDESPREAD AND SYSTEMATIC“The chamber… found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is individually responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator for the crime against humanity of murder,” the ICC said in a statement.
It said it found merit in the prosecution’s request to arrest Mr. Duterte due to his past government’s policy and statements that propelled an “attack directed against a civilian population.”
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that this attack was both widespread and systematic: the alleged attack took place over a period of several years and resulted in thousands of deaths,” it added.
Mr. Duterte arrived at Rotterdam Airport at 11:54 p.m. Manila time on Wednesday, a day after being flown to the European nation by Philippine authorities aboard a private jet, according to tracking service FlightRadar 24. He was arrested at the Manila airport on Tuesday by local police at the request of the ICC coursed through the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
His initial appearance before an ICC judge in The Hague will be scheduled in the coming days. The international court will verify his identity, determine the language for the trial and ensure he has been informed of the charges against him at their first hearing, the court said in a statement.
He will be held in an ICC detention unit on the Dutch coast during the duration of the proceedings, according to a briefer on its prison complex posted on its website.
Mr. Duterte made the crackdown on the illegal drug trade a key plank of his election campaign, promising to kill 100,000 criminals in his first six months in office and throw so many bodies in Manila Bay that the fish there would “grow fat.”
Among those who died were at least 122 children, according to a 2020 report by the World Organisation Against Torture and Children’s Legal Rights and Development Center.
“International law is not as weak as some may think,” ICC Prosecutor Karim Ahmad A. Khan said in a video message posted on the international tribunal’s website on Wednesday. “When we come together, when we work, when we build partnerships, the rule of law can prevail.”
The family of Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., whose government helped hand Mr. Duterte over to the ICC, would benefit politically amid a deepening rift with the Duterte clan, said Arjan P. Aguirre, who teaches political science at the Ateneo de Manila University.
“It places the Dutertes in an awkward position, where they are facing numerous cases, such as the impeachment and criminal charges, which will force them to spread out their resources and attention,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat. — with Reuters
